Maltese language 'still problematic' in EU

The problems connected with the translation and interpretation services of the Maltese language are turning out to be an "uphill struggle" for the European Commission.

Speaking to The Times following a briefing about the state of the interpretation and translation services of the new nine EU languages eight months after enlargement, the head of unit in the Interpretation Directorate General (DG), Ian Anderson, said that in the case of Maltese, the situation was unchanged from eight months ago.

"At the moment there are no Maltese interpreters available and we will have to wait until the necessary human resources are trained," he said.

Mr Anderson said Maltese was posing a particular problem in this respect. A competition for Maltese interpreters in 2003 yielded no successful candidates and his directorate general was in touch with the Maltese authorities in order to help remedy this situation.

Maltese is the only new language for which no full-time interpreters have been recruited by the Commission. There were only eight available free-lance interpreters, who have to be shared with the European Parliament, according to Mr Anderson. He said this situation meant it was impossible to provide the desired interpretation services for Maltese.

According to Commission projections, the European institutions show a need for, on average, 80 interpreters per new language per day for all institutions once the new languages are fully integrated. The Directorate General Interpretation would require about half of these.

In the translation sector, things are slightly better for the Maltese language although the number of translators employed by the Commission is still the lowest out of all the new languages. The Commission at present employs 22 full-time Maltese translators, most of them based in Luxemburg.

Manuel Barrata, acting head of unit in the Translation DG, told The Times that 145 full-time Maltese translators are needed by the Commission. He said the Commission will be issuing another call for the recruitment of Maltese translators this year.

During his presentation, Mr Barrata said that in general, through open competitions and other selection procedures for temporary staff conducted last year, DG Translation had, by the end of December, recruited 296 full-time translators, of whom 52 are in field offices (in member states) and the rest in Luxembourg. This number is expected to rise to 451 in the course of the first half of this year.